Local Product Van Cott Earns Qualifying Bid

Four players have been selected as wildcards into the main draw of singles competition at the 2014 LG&T Tennis Challenger. Marcos Giron, the reigning NCAA singles champion from UCLA, headlines the group of wildcards. In addition, Alex Van Cott of Unadilla has also been picked as a wildcard into the qualifying round of singles play.

Giron wrapped up his junior season at UCLA by winning the 2014 NCAA singles championship in late May for the Bruins. The Thousand Oaks, California native went 30-5 in 2013-14 on his way to All-America status for the second straight season. The No. 1 player in the country ranked by the ITA guided UCLA to the NCAA semifinals and helped the storied program achieve their 11th individual NCAA singles champion.

Joining Giron will be 24-year old Austin Krajicek who was a singles and doubles semifinalist at the 2013 LG&T Tennis Challenger. Krajicek, who is currently ranked 208th in the world, had a successful collegiate career at Texas A & M, earning All-America honors three times for the Aggies. So far in 2014, Krajicek has advanced to the quarterfinals or higher in six tournaments.

A pair of collegiate players round out the main draw wildcard participants. Ryan Shane, a junior-to-be at the University of Virginia, earned second team All-ACC honors as a sophomore and advanced to the second round of singles competition at the 2014 NCAA championship. The 20-year old from Falls Church, Va. ended the year ranked 43rd in the country according to the ITA. The fourth and final wildcard nod went to Buffalo, NY native Winston Lin who plays his collegiate tennis at Columbia. Lin, who will be a senior during the 2014-15 season, finished his junior campaign as the 17th ranked singles player in the nation and an All-American. An accomplished USTA junior player, Lin was ranked the 11th top player in the class of 2011 according to tennisrecruiting.net.

For the second straight year, local product Alex Van Cott will be competing in the USTA Pro Circuit event in Binghamton. Van Cott, a resident of Unadilla, is a sophomore at Tulane and was a qualifier last year in singles competition and a main draw participant in doubles with his brother Ian Van Cott. Joining Alex as a wildcard qualifier will be Jesse Witten who was once ranked as high as 163 in the world back in 2010.